Kilmessan actor's role in Les Miserables

Kilmessan singer and actor Killian Donnelly has a prominent role in Tom Hooper's Oscar-nominated movie adaptation of 'Les Miserables'. Killian, who performed in the musical in London's West End for three years, plays the role of Combeferre, one of the group of students that attempts to lead a revolution in 18th century France, when thousands of poor were dying on the streets. As well as being a 'swing actor' in the Queen's Theatre production, which meant he played all the main male characters including Jean Valjean, Killian also performed in the 25th anniversary performance of 'Les Miserables' in the O2 in London. Nicholas Allott, the movie's executive producer, also produced that show. Killian's Combeferre is one of the students involved in the plotting and the building of the barricades where the main battle takes place between the French soldiers and the group led by actors Aaron Tveit and Eddie Redmayne. Helmed by The King's Speech's Academy Award-winning director, Hooper, the Working Title Films/Cameron Mackintosh production stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, and newcomer Samantha Barks, with Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen. Irish singer Colm Wilkinson, the original Jean Valjean in the 1985 London and 1987 Broadway productions of Les Misérables, in the pivotal role of the Bishop of Digne. Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Misérables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption - a timeless testament to the endurance of the human spirit. Jackman plays ex-prisoner Jean Valjean, hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert (Crowe) after he breaks parole. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine's (Hathaway) young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever. With international superstars and beloved songs including 'I Dreamed a Dream', 'Do You Hear the People Sing?' 'Bring Him Home', 'One Day More', 'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables' and 'On My Own', the show is being described as the cinematic musical experience of a lifetime. Killian Donnelly took two months off playing Raoul in the weekday performances of 'The Phantom of the Opera' in Her Majesty's Theatre in London, for filming of 'Les Miserables' in Pinewood Studios. "We rehearsed for three weeks, then filmed for a month and a half," he explains. "A car would pick me up at 5.30am, it was an hour and a half out to Pinewood, then we'd be clothed and fed and on set for 9am. Filming could go on until 9pm and it would be 11pm before things finished. "I have a few lines and moments in it," he continues. "Including a fight scene with Russell Crowe." In between takes, and chatting to Crowe, he learned that the movie star had a soft spot for the Irish, having worked with Richard Harris on 'Gladiator'. Crowe and Harris enjoyed pints together in The Coal Hole, a local pub at Strand in London close to the theatre area, an establishment sometimes frequented by the Kilmessan man. "I've tweeted Crowe with a picture of a pint from The Coal Hole," he says. "And he took a break from some Hollywood event in the States to tweet back." The filmmakers say they set out to find what Tom Hooper often refers to as "the perfect storm of actors." Eric Fellner of Working Title films says: "We needed three things from our cast: star power, gifted actors and accomplished singers, and we were blessed to hit a moment in time where that group of actors exists. The cast that we see in the film is pretty much everyone we originally went after." The movie adaptation became the fastest musical in North American box office history to cross $100 million after accomplishing the feat in 13 days.